Not everyone has vast resources to spend when it comes to social media marketing. One has to balance quality with cost. Quality content creation, strategic paid media support, and community management are all examples of the resources that make a difference in the performance of your social media effort. Yet, those resources are costly.
For the business struggling to decide how to proceed with limitations, there are better ways to run efficient social media campaigns while maximizing ROI. Facebook is an example of how to implement strategies to run better campaigns.
Choose Wisely, Choose Smart
It can be frustrating trying to keep up with the constant changes Facebook makes. Every day, there is a press release about a coming ad module or algorithm. It’s tempting to keep a constant vigil for updates while taking each new feature out for a spin to see how ad tools perform.
Here’s where choosing wisely comes into play. One does not need to try every ad module. It is better to choose only the modules that will be the most useful for the needs of the business. For example, Facebook’s carousel feature gives one the ability to use one unit to display a variety of messages. However, this conflicts with the business’s previous need to gain exposure for a single message while driving subscriptions.
This situation calls for the use of options such as post promotion or lead ads instead of the carousel. The carousel may be better aesthetically, but the former options are likely to be the most effective use of money. In this case, experimentation with different ad formats can come after the business needs are met.
Quality Over Quantity
It is easy to churn out content in hopes that it’ll reach the intended audience. But this isn’t the best strategy for communicating with the audience. Quality content that comes less frequently and forms stronger bonds with targeted readers trumps content that is quickly produced yet people continually bounce off it.
After they are created, posts need to promoted. It usually only takes 90 minutes for a post to reach the maximum natural organic reach. After organic reach, a boosted post lets the post reach more people.
Posts that promote interaction are ones that reach the most people. A post- specific, simple message inviting Facebook users to interact with posts gets the buzz going. As more users share, like, and comment on posts, micro-stories are created and increase the organic reach of the post.
Targeting
Aside from boosting a post to gain more reach, one can use Facebook’s Ads Manager to target specific audiences. Money can be spent on a specific group rather than the larger masses.
Targeting increases efficiency which can be measured by watching the CPM (cost per thousand people reached). A low CPM combined with the right audience size means that the ad spending will be effective and kept in check.
Test and Optimize
After implementing these guidelines, further testing can boost efficiency. Determining which posts are the better performing posts can prevent spending money on weaker posts. Smaller budgets can be used with smaller audiences with the better posts garnering greater budget shares.
Create a Scaled Ad Plan
Ad plans should be flexible enough to change with seasons, years, and fluctuations in resources and budgets. Scaled plans provide room for planning and budgeting according to business needs.
Facebook ad plans need to be unique to the business. Understanding objectives and making the right decisions based on them will provide the best success in time and resource management.